Gasoline

Gasoline Prices Rise to $2.27 Per Gallon

The average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline rose 8.3 cents to $2.274 for the week ending Feb. 16 for a second consecutive week of rising petroleum-based fuel prices.

Prices remain significantly lower than a year ago. Gasoline now costs $1.106 cents lower than the comparable week in February of 2013, according to federal data.

Fuel prices rose across the nine regions tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The sharpest increase came in the West Coast region where the average price rose 14.8 cents to $2.622 per gallon. The mildest increase came in the Central Atlantic with a 4-cent gain to $2.314.

Three states now have average gasoline prices below $2 per gallon, including Montana ($1.973), Idaho ($1.935), and Utah ($1.934). Gasoline costs more than $2.50 per gallon in only three states, including Hawaii ($3.026), California ($2.802), and Alaska ($2.57), according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Meanwhile, the average price of diesel fell 3 cents to $2.865 for the week. Diesel costs $1.124 less than it did a year ago.

The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in December fell to 25 mpg — down 0.2 mpg from a revised November value, according to Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, researchers from the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

The national average price of unleaded gasoline jumped 5 cents to $2.49 per gallon in the first week of 2018 and has reached a level not seen since 2014 during the week that starts the new year, according to AAA.

China is setting a deadline for automakers to end the sale of fossil-fuel powered vehicles as the country looks to reduce oil consumption and pollution and push for the development of electric vehicles. Regulators are working on a timetable for the ban.

The average national price of gasoline remained at $2.29 per gallon for the week ending March 27 amid discussion by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to extend a production cut by another six months.